Not much down here deeper than 10-15 feet deep. Some man made ponds are deeper. The big ones would rather hide in that beautiful Florida vegetation!! Lol

All depends on how deep the fish are.  “normally” summertime 10-15 ft. We are leaving for St Clair this week and will be in that range or shallower depending on the fish.  If we switch up and go walleye jigging, it will be up to 50ft.  In lake Lanier I fished 65-70ft, in Lake Powell it was 300ft deep although we didn’t fish that deep, we fished bluff walls in that depth.  On the St Lawrence we often were in 40-50ft.  On Headwaters in Florida, 10ft was deep. 😆

I fish mostly ponds, so about 8’. 
 

Fact is though, most catches are in 2’-4’ off the bank. 

I routinely fish down to 35' of water in the summer for smallies.

Mostly less than 20’ with a little down to 30’ for bass.  we get a thermocline in the summer around 15’ in a lot of lakes so that sets are hard limit.  Then again, in prespawn when they are out deeper I’ll scope down to 30’ or so.  Deeper than that and it gets hard to stay on the fish and get a lure down to them before either the wind blows you around, the fish move, or something else changes.

 

that said, 3 weeks ago I caught a perch off the bottom in 62’ of water.  I had gone over by the dam tower to show my father in law what it looks like on live scope.  While looking, I saw a school on the bottom so tossed a minnow down.  Ended up with a 15” jumbo, the biggest I’ve ever caught.  It would have pushed 2# and there was a school of 20 of them down there.  

I don't fish any water deeper than ten feet because that's the deepest it is where I fish. I do think I catch bigger bass in deeper water.

4 hours ago, GreenPig said:

  I usually stay 20' or shallower for LM. For Spotted bass I'll regularly fish out to 45'. Of course in the dead of Winter, I fish for both as deep as 70' while Spoon fishing.

Me too.  Spots can be 60’+ in the winter and 40’+ in the summer on Table Rock Lake here in MO.

 

Today we found 57 post spawn smallmouth in 5-15 fow down on Beaver Lake in northern AR.

Most of the natural lakes around here have weeds that can grow as deep as 18ft. or so. If I fish the outside weedline, I'll be fishing somewhere between 15ft-20ft. When I'm structure fishing, I'll rarely go deeper than 25ft. even though the water may be 50ft. deep.

I pretty much never fish deeper than 10’. 

I can fish deep, but I don't like to.  Bass from deep water have to be fizzed and I don't like doing it.  Twenty feet deep is not very deep for me.  That's the lenght of the boat.  My limit for bass is about 30 feet.  I've fished jigs for walleyes down to 60 feet and for lake trout down to 100 feet and it's relatively easy.  

 The deepest I have caught bass is 40 feet. Rarely do I go past 20 but it happens occasionally. The waters I usually fish are not clear.

i had a day drop-shotting smallies from 60 feet of water.  it was okay.  i prefer shallower.  20 feet or less. 

On my home lake Stillhouse Hollow I am comfortable fishing down to 40ft. I have caught a largemouth that deep on the bottom. I don’t think fishing on other Texas lakes at 40ft would frighten me either. I’ve fished a good bit in North Carolina, also. I don’t spend much time beyond 20-25ft on lakes I have fished there. My last trip on Stillhouse, I was probing stuff in 33-35ft. 

Thank you all for the responses! My follow up question is what time of year do you guys usually fish deeper? I understand that mid day summer and winter the bass traditionally are thought to go deep, but I also heard around this time post spawn the bass also go deep before the lakes stratify and the thermocline sets up.

Depends on the lake and water clarity.  One lake I fish the visibility is 4 to 8 ft., and I catch bass anywhere from the surface to 25 ft. deep.  Another lake I fish the clarity is usually around 2 foot, and I catch most of my bass between the surface and 15 ft deep.  When the visibility is a foot or less, I never catch any bass deeper than 10 ft. deep.  Much of the time there is no thermocline on the lakes I fish, but if there is I always fish at or above the thermocline.  I have seen the thermocline as shallow as 10 feet, and as deep as 50 feet.  I have caught bass in 35 feet of water that were suspended at 10 feet, but the deepest I have caught a bass on the bottom, is around 30 feet deep.

early winter for me.  I follow giant bait balls.

 

Up to 25 foot deep

I prefer shallow water. No deeper than 10' for me. Now... if I was on a boat with someone that wanted to fish deep, sure I'd give it a go, but it's not my thing.

Usually up to about 20–25 feet. I’ve gone deeper a few times when targeting suspended fish in summer, but honestly, I prefer staying shallower where I can feel the structure better.

Interesting looking at the majority of responses to this question and seeing the very large number of anglers who stay relatively shallow.  Might explain why the forward facing sonar fishermen are scoring such huge bags.  

On 5/13/2025 at 9:34 AM, Reel said:

I can fish deep, but I don't like to.  Bass from deep water have to be fizzed and I don't like doing it.  Twenty feet deep is not very deep for me.  That's the lenght of the boat.  My limit for bass is about 30 feet.  I've fished jigs for walleyes down to 60 feet and for lake trout down to 100 feet and it's relatively easy.  

You don’t have to fizz them if you let them go, unless of course the bladder is sticking out of their mouth. When I pull them from deep, they just swim right back down 

Usually wherever the deep weedline in the summer is, which is about 15-20 feet down in most of the natural lakes I fish.